This may be a dud-of-a-post, but it’s worth a shot.
I thought this would be a good place to share our stories/tales, from the experiences we have had with trains, and train trips.
Welcome to all. Not just railroaders. (Railroaders are more than welcome though!)
I’ve always enjoyed stories (if that’s the right word to use) from fellow rail fans, and railroaders.
So let’s enjoy each other’s stories.
The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.
A few years back I would often park at the CSX depot in Kennesaw, GA to do paperwork. While working I would listen to my scanner and be entertained by the passing trains.
The crews on southbound trains would sometimes "die" and park on one of the two mains by the museum while waiting on the crew van. On one particular day, a train had been sitting for awhile. I hear on the scanner the van driver speaking in a thick dialect trying to find the train.
The crewmember tells the driver that they are downtown Kennesaw across the street from the depot, near the museum. The van driver radios back that he is at the "haunted house" but can't find the train much less downtown Kennesaw. The crew doesn't know the area as far as roads are concerned and couldn't figure out where the "haunted house" was considering it was spring, about as far away from Halloween as you can get. This keeps going back and forth with the "haunted house" mentioned a couple more times.
Now Kennesaw did have a haunted house for Halloween a few years prior to this incident when the soon to be torn down police station was converted for a fund raiser. But I thought it odd that a van driver who couldn't find Kennesaw would know anything about a haunted house in town from years ago.
After fifteen minutes I finally put down my paperwork and start concentrating on this mystery. Considering the thick dialect I tried to think of what else could be a "haunted house" in Kennesaw. After a few minutes I think, just maybe, it could be the Huddle House resturant. I drive the mile to the resturant and there sits a white van with safety striping on the rear next to a man at the pay phone.
Without going into detail, I ask him if he is looking for a train. He says yes so I tell him to follow me. In my rearview mirror I see that the van driver stops at the train so I keep going.
Mystery solved(on my end), but whenever I think of this tale I wonder if the van driver or crew ever tried to figure out how this unknown guy shows up at the "haunted house" with the right answers at the right time.
Jay
Wonderful story! Actually a little funny!
"'Til Death Do Us Part......Or Spokane, Wa, Whichever Comes First." On the Empire Builder in the late 80's. A couple in the Seattle coaches.....husband can't sleep and moves to Superliner lounge car. Settles down on floor under windows. Great flat spot to sleep, out of the way, no one will step on you. Unfortunately, no one can see you either. At 2am the train pulls into Spokane and does the split, with half of the train (including the lounge) breaking off to go to Portland while rest of train continues onto Seattle. At 5am gentleman wakes up to find that he is a 100 miles from his bride. He is heading to Portland, she to Seattle. Train crew was trying to resolve how they were going to reunite the couple. I don't remember the final solution (if I ever heard the outcome at all), but I always remember the event!
A friend was on the Silver Star in the 80's. Arrived to Florida 7 hours late. The train was involved in 3 grade crossing accidents in one trip!
Now from the "Stupid Passengers on Tourist Railroads" dept. I was working on a steam train. in NJ in the early 90's. As I am walking between cars, here is a guy with his kid (about 3 or 4) in the vestibule. The train had dutch doors and the guy had his kid COMPLETELY OUTSIDE THE TRAIN! He was holding the kid, with the kids' butt perched on the window frame, with the kids' body completely outside the car. Had the guy lost his grip the kid is out the window at 35mph. The guy got mad at me for chasing him back into the body of the car and yelling at him. Gotta Love It!
I have thousands of miles working tourist trains and 190,000 miles on Amtrak. I could go on & on but now it is someone elses turn
Wow! That really would stink to fall asleep on your train like that.
People that hang outside of cars like that I think do it, because they see train crew member’s doing it. What they don’t relies is that the train crew knows the obstructions, and normally don’t do that unless coming up on a station.
All I can say is wow. How could you put your son’s life at risk like that?
Justin
This happened to my Aunt Margie. She & Uncle Les bought a brand new 1950 Chevrolet in Rock Island IL. On the way back to their home in Sherrard IL, Uncle Les stopped at the Rock Island Southern crossing, to let Aunt drive. He set the emergency (parking) brake & left the engine idling. When Aunt let out the clutch, she didn't give it enough gas. Chevy lurched forward & stalled on the tracks. Just then they heard the whistle of an approaching train.
Older cars had a starter pedal just above the gas pedal. Just push in the clutch with left foot & with heel on the gas, engage the started with the toe of right foot. Oops. On the new car, the starter button is on the dash. She did not know that and panicked when she couldn't find the starter.
Uncle Les hollered, "Just get out." So they did. Well, the train was not going very fast and the engineer saw them jump out. He applied the brakes and almost stopped. Aunt & Uncle watched in agony as their brand new car got mangled.
Uncle Les passed away a long time ago, but Aunt Margie loves to tell this story to this very day.
Oh what a shame for the brand new Chevy.....Yes, exactly correct, the starter button on that vehicle was on the dash and the emergency brake was operated with the right hand as it was to the right of the steering column......Wonder if that might have been left on and caused it to lurch stranding them even more so on the tracks.....
Quentin
It's been said that significant events come in threes. I don't believe it, but recall about 25-30 years ago, I was riding the Southern's Crescent from Birmingham to Washington. We left Birmingham on time, but an elderly passenger in the sleeper died of natural causes, and we stayed in Anniston about 45 minutes while the coroner did his work and had the deceased passenger and his wife removed from the train. Then, at a crossing in Villa Rica, Georgia, we struck a motorcycle and killed its rider. That delay, of course, was even longer. The diner was picked up in Atlanta, and during a late supper, a passenger got something stuck in his throat and I saw, for the first time, a real life demonstration of the Heimlich maneuver performed by the dining car steward.. Happily, this event turned out better than the other two. It was an eventful trip.
Ohhh, sorry about that new Chevy! That must have really hurt!
It seems like really strange things happen like that. Remember a few weeks ago when that Amtrak train struck 2 or 3 people in the same day?
I love these stories. Thanks Bubbajustin for starting it!
aegrotatio I love these stories. Thanks Bubbajustin for starting it!
Your welcome.
I hope that Big JIM, or some other train personnel (engineers) will tell some. I bet they have some good ones!
PS, I think all of these stories are good!
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